#15 - RW 274
Moscow News
September 17-23, 2003
NO GO GENERAL
Alexei Titkov
The Kremlin is said to be about to crack down on Ulyanovsk Governor Lt.Gen.(Rtd.) Vladimir Shamanov for sheer ineptitude and waste of public money.
On prospects for Shamanov and other generals- turned-governor

What do the "criminal provinces" of Smolensk and Kaliningrad, the holdovers of the Soviet command and administer system in the Voronezh and Ulyanovsk region, and the aluminum producing Khakassia and Krasnoyarsk Territory have in common? All of these regions are or were headed by military brass. At the moment there are three Federal Security Service (FSB) generals (Murat Zyazikov in Ingushetia, Viktor Maslov in the Smolensk region, and Vladimir Kulakov in the Voronezh region), two army generals (Boris Gromov and Vladimir Shamanov, in the Moscow and Ulyanovsk regions respectively), one colonel (Alexei Lebed in Khakassia), and even one admiral (Vladimir Yegorov in the Kaliningrad region). Two regions - Krasnoyarsk Territory and Karachaevo-Circassia - have in the last 18 months ceased to be generals fiefs: Alexander Lebed was killed in an air crash, and Vladimir Semenov was recently voted out of office. In Ingushetia, army general Ruslan Aushev was replaced by FSB general Murat Zyazikov. Until 2000, the Kursk region was also a generals turf (Alexander Rutskoi), where a similar replacement of an army man by an FSB man failed to come off.

Uniformed people rode on Vladimir Putin's coattails into both federal and local governments. While the effect from appointing generals to ministerial posts does not make itself felt at once, in the case of governor general the results are obvious almost immediately.

Now, at the start of a new cycle of gubernatorial elections, it is just the right time to look at the countrys general-run regions, and see how successful the idea of reinforcing the governor corps with people from the military has been. Coming to Power

The first of the three main models of generals heading up regional administrations was that of a nationalitys military leader. It spread in the early 1990s, atop the wave of ethnic-patriotic movements, primarily in the North Caucasus. This includes Djokhar Dudaev (1991) and Aslan Maskhadov (1997), Ruslan Aushev (1992), and Vladimir Semenov (1999). None of the military leaders of the first wave are still in office: The situation turned around and a new need arose - for strong, able managers and communicators.

The other two models differ in the type of coattails on which a general rides into office: state structures (all three FSB generals and Admiral Yegorov, in 2000-02) or financial-industrial groups (brothers Alexander and Alexei Lebed, Vladimir Shamanov, and Boris Gromov). In Office

Of the dozen or so general-run regional administrations, thus far perhaps only two can be seen as more or less successful. The first success story is Ruslan Aushevs presidency. For several years he has been striking just the right balance between the belligerent generals on the federal level and the hot heads within the republic itself, at the same time putting in place new power structures - virtually from scratch. It is anybodys guess, however, just how successful Murat Zyazikov, who took over a year ago, will be: He has to address very different issues, primarily advancing the republics economy.

The second success is Boris Gromov as governor. On the one hand, he is a political figure from the Luzhkov clan - moreover, one leaning on other politicians; on the other, the Moscow region is mutli-centric and "headless" (a conglomerate without a capital), so maintaining at least some order there is a major accomplishment in itself.

What is the reason for such a modest success rate? As a rule, a general in governors position is a rare combination of incompetence, complacency, a tendency to act on the spur of the moment, and an inability to seek compromise. Furthermore, unlike ordinary politicians, generals do not have tried and trusted teams of their own on various levels: Instead, they are often surrounded by reckless adventurists of the conquistador type. The trouble is that generals, who are alien to the local political elite, are manipulated by external, extraregional forces. These external forces - like in the corporate sector - are interested not so much in developing a region, which requires long-term investment, as in short-term gains. Krasnoyarsk and Ulyanovsk are showcases of time-serving tactics in their classic form, whereby a stint on the regional level is seen as a business trip.

Of the incumbent generals-turned-governor, Kulakov and Yegorov, both of whom proved unable to place the situation under control, have been unqualified disasters. As has Vladimir Shamanov, a less-than-independent governor. Resignations

Except for Alexei Lebed, a kind of a wedding general [a R. expression meaning ceremonial bystander] who well suits the wedding MC, the SibAl aluminum giant; and Boris Gromov, who has on balance made good as a civilian politician, generals as heads of federal regions are single-use-only. Rutskoi could have been reelected but he did not sit well with the Kremlin and was removed from office by a court ruling; Aushev stepped down before serving out his term, at his own free will; Vladimir Semenov recently was defeated by his rival, Mustafa Batdyev, a financier. Before long, the ex-governor ranks may grow further. The uniformed governors of Voronezh, Kaliningrad, Smolensk, and Ulyanovsk regions will be hard put to win a second term in the upcoming elections.

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